


At Granny's

by miss_slipslop



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 16:40:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_slipslop/pseuds/miss_slipslop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A conversation between Emma and Ruby. Takes place in early s1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Granny's

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OzQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OzQueen/gifts).



> Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! <3

Emma doesn’t have friends. The word is foreign to her, really. Her code is simple: Look out for herself, and only herself. Have no expectations in people, and they will never disappoint you, never leave you. She made the mistake of believing it was different once, and never will again. 

Besides, she moves around too much, has a far too demanding job to think of things like friends. Or such was the case before she moved to Storybrooke, lured in by her past, compelled to stay for reasons that she still doesn’t fully know. Henry’s theory about the curse is ridiculous, yes, but at the same time, Emma believes Regina is almost evil enough to be a fairy tale villain. That, and for the first time, there’s some odd pull keeping her here, telling her to stay instead of leave. 

She pulls her coat closer to her, heading down the street to Granny’s. A great deal of the town seems devoid of any real spark, but the restaurant is always lively, and the food is tasty. Emma has become attached to their coffee and their grilled cheese sandwiches, plus it’s just a good place to sit and read for awhile, think about life. 

Granny’s is fairly quiet around midday, which Emma likes. She heads to her usual booth, opens up the paper. Henry is in school right now, so Emma’s plan is to stay here until two, then hopefully get a few moments with him before Regina sinks her claws back in. 

“Your usual?” 

Emma looks up from her paper to see Ruby standing there, bright red lipstick freshly reapplied, top tied up just a bit too high. A bored little rebel without a cause, Emma has thought. She doesn’t understand why Ruby doesn’t just leave, though her presence at Granny’s does add something to the town. 

“A grilled cheese and a coffee.” She nods. 

“Coming right up.” Ruby scrawls the order down, then--

“So you’ve decided to stay awhile?” 

“I guess it seems that way.” Emma shrugs. “We’ll see what happens.”

“Well, it’s definitely not the most exciting place.” Ruby leans against the booth. “I’ve been wanting to get out my whole life.” 

“Why don’t you?” Emma asks, on impulse. Maybe this will give her some new information, some piece about the town that she can fit together. 

“I’m not sure.” Ruby shakes her head. “I guess--no one leaves, really. It’s just what we know? I wouldn’t even know where to begin if I left.” 

Emma laughs slightly. “I think you’d figure it out.” 

“I guess.” Ruby fiddles with her apron. “It’s weird. I’ve always had this part of me that wants to go out and have all these great adventures, but then I think about it, and everything I know is here. As boring as this town is, it seems more simpler to just stay.” 

“My problem is that I’ve never been able to stay,” Emma admits. She’s not one to open up, but there’s something about Ruby that she finds geunine, compels her to talk more. “So maybe that’s good. That and sometimes, adventures aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.” 

Emma’s had many adventures, and misadventures due to her circumstances, but sometimes, she would give anything to have the complete opposite of her life, to have a real place to call home, a true history, the promise of settling down with someone. Not that she would ever admit this. She thinks about it sometimes though. 

“Maybe just one adventure.” Ruby laughs. “Someday. If I ever get the courage up.” She pauses. “I’ll be back with your food, Emma.” 

\--

Ruby arrives with the sandwich and coffee ten minutes later, when Emma’s doing the crossword, trying not to think of some of the more ridiculous stories Henry has told her. 

“So what was Boston like?” Ruby asks, setting down the food. “Worth going to?” 

“It was...” Emma hesistates. In all honesty, she’d never gotten much time to explore Boston. She’d gone between her apartment, and work, and not much else. “It was big,” she finishes. “Seemed fun enough.” 

“Big and fun enough.” Ruby laughs again. “Ringing endorsements right there.” 

There’s a slight pause. Emma’s not sure what to say to that. 

“I mean, a lot of people like it,” she finally settles on. “If you’re looking for someone to romanticize the cityskapes and tell you tales of ice skating in Boston Common though, I’m not your girl. I worked a lot, never got a feel for the city.” 

“I get that.” Ruby nods. “Life gets busy.” 

“Yeah.” Emma takes a bite out of her sandwich. “I guess I should have explored more.” 

“You can when you go back.” Ruby says. “Then send me pictures, because I am the kind of person that romanticizes cityskapes.” 

“I don’t blame you, living in a place like this.” Emma gestures out the window. “Not really much here to romanticize.” 

“The woods are pretty,” Ruby tells her. “I go there sometimes when I need to think. They’re nice to walk in. We’ve got the harbor too, but other than that...” 

She pauses, then continues.

“It’s weird. For as long as I can remember, nothing about this place has ever changed. Not even any new people even, nobody to really make other friends with. That’s why you’re so interesting to us.” 

For one second, Emma thinks about what Henry has told her, how odd things are, even for a small town like this, and almost believes him. Then she thinks that’s ridiculous, that there’s lots of small little towns like this one, where no one leaves and hardly anyone wants to come and visit, though--

“Don’t you get any tourists or anything?” She asks. “People who want to camp or see the leaves in the fall?” 

“Not really. Like I said, nobody seems to know we exist, really. I’ve always found it weird, but no one really questions it, so...” 

Her voice trails off again. 

“It’s like I said before,” she adds. “Simpler. To not really question it, even though I always have, I guess, in the back of my mind.” 

Emma takes another bite of her sandwich, thinking. She’s been questioning the town since she got here, but she’s not going to tell Ruby that just yet. Even so, Ruby might be a good person to have around, to ask about people in the town, even about Regina. A good informant, an ally. Even a friend, if Emma was the kind of person who had friends. 

“Can we get some coffee over here?!” Someone snaps at the bar. 

“In a minute!” Ruby yells back. Everyone knows everyone here, so no one bats an eyelash at this exchange. It’s common knowledge that Leroy is cantankerous and Ruby tempestuous. 

She moves to leave, then turns. 

“Hey Emma?” 

“Yeah?” Emma looks up from her crossword again. 

“So my shift’s going to end soon,” Ruby continues. “I don’t have anything exciting to do, and you’re the most interesting person in this damn place, so want to walk around or something?” 

Emma thinks for a moment. She’s can’t remember the last time she’s “walked around” with someone, but again, Ruby could provide her with information. That and she’s actually enjoyed their conversation. It’s even been nice, having someone to chat with, rather than just the crossword and her thoughts for company. 

“Sure,” she says. “I’d like that.” 

 


End file.
